


Agreements

by graygravy



Category: Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dubious Consent, Dubious Ethics, Heavy Angst, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-24 20:38:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13818999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graygravy/pseuds/graygravy
Summary: This was posted literally a decade ago, but got taken down from AFF.net.Tenpou makes an agreement with Li Touten for the minister to use his body in exchange for him keeping quiet about his investigations.Again, in case you've missed all the warning tags : containsnon-con/rapescenes.New chapter after 10 years yo~





	1. Agreements

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the Vom Marlowe kink meme on LJ. Prompt went along the lines of 'Power Games and Sacrifices', I believe.

"You thought you could get away with it?" The minister's voice was soft in his ear, his hands busy with the front of Tenpou's uniform, pulling it open to let his hands roam more freely. "Did you think that I would just let you stand there and collect all those nasty little things about me without retaliation?" Behind locked doors, LiTouten had Tenpou pressed up against a wall; the afternoon was silent except for the man's words.

 

"Did you think you could get away with it?" Tenpou replied, his eyes averted as he let his hands dangle by his side, neither stopping, nor helping the minister. "You have as much to lose from this as I do." His voice was sharp, laced with venom. He glared at LiTouten, defiant, even as he reluctantly let himself be taken. 

 

"Agreed, but on the other hand, I have much more to gain." Pants are unzipped, falling to the floor. "You have such a beautiful body Marshal. I'm surprised you haven't used it for previously for any 'arrangements'." He ran his palms down over Tenpou's smooth, flat stomach, over jutting hipbones and beyond. 

 

"Up until now I had the liberty of choice, minister." The Marshal grunted as he was turned around, naked from the waist down. His forehead on his arm, his hair falling over to hide his face. The glasses hid his eyes as LiTouten began to slowly slide up into him. The minister's breathing, harsh in the silence as he takes the kami up against his own office wall. Their trysts were never planned ahead and he did not bother with preparing the Marshal. Tenpou bit his lip, taking a breath to mutter, "When one is in check, the next move is immediately to put oneself out of check. No matter what else is sacrificed." He cried out as LiTouten pulls out with one sudden movement. 

 

"Ah, yes." The reply was drawn out as lazy as his re-entry into Tenpou's warmth. "No matter _who_ else is sacrificed. So you see yourself as the king, then, on your personal chessboard?" Again he pulled out quickly, causing the marshal to gasp and tremble against the wall. 

 

"King? No; much too useless, much too important. Why would I ever aspire to be as such?" His expression carefully blank, he was playing too near to the fire. 

 

"Tell me, then, who would be the king?" He slowed his pace, reaching with one hand to turn Tenpou's face towards him. Again, the glasses mask his expression. It infuriated him, that mask of carefully controlled blankness. He wanted to see the other kami's face change, he wanted to see his face twist into a grimace of pain, wanted to see what he was doing to him, but somehow Tenpou always kept his mask up. The only reaction to LiTouten's ministrations were the gasps and grunts he tried so hard to hide. 

 

"Why do you care? Already, I am submitting to you and you still ask me these things. Why? Am I not enough to satisfy your sick desires?" LiTouten frowned, not hearing the answer he expected. He slammed back into Tenpou, eliciting another gasp and, to his satisfaction, a single tear running down his face. 

 

"Indeed, why should I care? It should be enough that you are here, with my cock inside you. It should be enough for me to see you humbled so." He continued thrusting, faster now, making it harder for Tenpou to mask his discomfort. "But somehow, I want more." He could feel his orgasm coming, a tightening of his balls and the heat building up in his belly. He found it amusing that the Marshal was only half hard, and he grasped the shaft, slow sure strokes that leave Tenpou squirming. 

 

"What else do you want? You've taken my body, taken a choice away from me. You have my reputation in your hands, you have my entire career, indeed. What more do you want?" The mask was dropping, his voice growing urgent. 

 

"There is always more. There is always much more power to be gained." LiTouten replied as he came in a sudden burst, letting himself finish before he continued with the Marshal.

 

When they finished he took a step back and zipped up his pants, a satisfied smile set on his face. "'Till next time then?" Tenpou did not reply, but nodded, not looking up as he put his clothing back on and waited for LiTouten to leave.

 

It was not the way he chose to conduct his matters with the minister, but it was the only way left to him. Tenpou did not mind; he was not married, LiTouten's wife only his wife to gain power. If this was how he could keep up with his intelligence gathering then it was the only way he had.


	2. Deals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenren finds out about the agreement, as Kenrens are wont to do.

Kenren was bored. Bored, irritated and slightly annoyed. He had been knocking at Tenpou's door for slightly more than an hour. It was close to dusk and there was no reason for Tenpou to not open his door. He had even locked it, a strange occurrence for the Marshal. If this was going to go on, he might even go around to the back door where he had stolen the keys to. He knew the Marshal. Who knew how many times he had used that entrance to dig Tenpou out from his self made tomb. 

 

But this time was different.

 

"Yes?" Tenpou opened the door just a crack, staring out at the General, who was staring back at him. Kenren continued staring, the rebuke that he had wanted to say stopping in his throat. 

 

"I-.. Its." The words wouldn't come out, as he tried to figure out what was wrong with this situation. Tenpou looked horrible. He was paler than usual and he appeared to have a bruise under his right eye. 

 

"If you don't mind, I have... something to attend to. You can come back later if you wish." He started to close the door, but not before Kenren's hand shot out and grabbed hold of it, trying to shove it open a bit more. 

 

He wasn't sure why he did it, not even sure what was wrong; not even sure if anything _was_ wrong, but he kept on pushing, trying to peer over Tenpou's shoulder into the room behind. 

 

"Taishou, please, just go. There is nothing for you to see here." Tenpou pulled at the door, struggling with the General, who was trying to push it back open. 

 

Finally, he had pushed enough to step inside Tenpou's dark office. The force of his push had sent the Marshal to the floor. He flicked the light on, moving towards the open bedroom door. 

 

"No!" Tenpou was on him, kicking at his knees sending him to the floor. He grabbed the General's collar, keeping him pinned. His voice was cold and frightening, whispered right bedside his ear. "Do. Not. Interfere. With. What. I. Do, Taishou. You would not understand it, and I do not want you to understand it. When I let go, you will stand, apologise, and leave by the same door that you forced your way in through. Do you understand me?"

 

"Who is it? Who is it that is so precious to you?" His own voice had a hard bitter tang to it. "I thought that you said you were not a whore." His accusation was impulsive, just one that he blurted out, not expecting it to actually impact. He could see Tenpou just from the corner of his eye; he was pale, eyes suddenly wide in a way that he had never seen on him before.

 

Kenren felt Tenpou get off him and he was then was unceremoniously hauled up from the floor. Tenpou refused to look at him as he sternly shoved the General out. "You have no idea what you are talking about, Taishou."

 

The door was shut, and bolted. If he put his ear to it, he could faintly hear Tenpou talking, but the words were too soft to make out. Who was it that Tenpou wanted to hide? He could feel his blood starting to boil at the thought. He thought that he was the only _partner_ , if you could even call it that, the Marshal had. Even though he himself had slept around, he'd never expected the Marshal to be of the same sort. He thought about going in by the back door, just to see who it was. Maybe...

 

```

Tenpou made his way back to his bedroom, clenching his teeth as he thought about what Kenren had said to him. The lights were on and he immediately saw _him_ sitting on his bed, robe half open and wearing an amused leer.

 

"So who was it?" 

 

Tenpou glared at him for a second before he looked away. He leaned against the dresser, causing a small avalanche of falling books, looking anywhere but at the minister. 

 

"You really should tidy this place up a bit you know." 

 

"You had what you wanted already. Leave." There was a silence as Li walked over and tipped Tenpou's face up to meet his. 

 

"Why so glum? Was it someone important?" Tenpou still looked elsewhere, the bruise on his face already darkening. He pulled himself away, ignoring the minister. 

 

"Why are you not answering me? Did something I say hit home?" He grabbed Tenpou by the shoulder, pulling him back onto the bed. He smirked as the Marshal winced, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. 

 

"Our agreement was that you may take me at anytime of your choosing, provided that I agree with the timing. In return, you will not reveal my investigations to any higher authorities. If any word of our arrangement gets out, the deal is null and void. Talking to you at all is not in our deal. Leave, now." He made no attempt to move, just gritting his teeth and looking to the side. A hand wound itself in his hair, pulling tight, as the minister kissed him. He didn't respond, closing his eyes and just thinking of anything, anything else but the present. 

 

Li took him again. Tenpou lay pressed with his face against his pillow, biting it hard to stop his cries from escaping. He hated that feeling, the horrible feeling of vulnerability that sex created. He hated himself then, trying hard not to cry, trying to just keep his mind away from that moment. So weak, so pitiful, so easily controlled. With a final grunt, Li finished, slipping out of him. Tenpou sat up, brushing at his eyes quickly before he turned to look at LiTouten. 

 

"Happy now?" He asked, venom dripping from every word. He covered himself with the blankets, wanting to just curl up and sleep, to forget that this actually happened, but the minister flopped back down on the space beside him. 

 

He glared at the lump, "Leave. Now." But he was already snoring and Tenpou could not bring himself to touch him. He got out, heading to the shower to try and wash away the feeling of filth left behind.

 

After the shower, he dressed himself in a pair of jeans and a sweater, one of Kenren's discarded ones, and went out, locking the door behind him. Li could let himself out in the morning, and there was no way he was going to touch the minister more than what was demanded of him.

 

```````

The Mashal found himself at one of the lily ponds around the palace gardens. The night air was cold and his fingers were freezing. He lit a cigarette, keeping the flame alive longer than what was strictly necessary.

 

"I can't really say I approve of what you're doing, but it works, I guess." 

 

Tenpou didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. "Thank you, Kanzeon. It works, but it disgusts me." His reflection was joined by Kanzeon's, standing quietly beside him. 

 

"Hell, that... kami disgusts even me. You sacrifice too much of yourself in this agreement. Way more than what he does." The reflection rippled as Kanzeon sat down, trailing hir toes in the water. 

 

He sighed, "True. His touch disgusts me, but I can think of no other way to solve this problem."

 

"Which problem? LiTouten or that new General of yours?" Se turned hir head up to look at Tenpou, smoking his cigarette as if he had no problems in the world. 

 

"Ahaha, both, I am afraid." 

 

Silence again. Occasionally fish would break the surface, ripples moving out from where they surfaced. 

 

"The thing is, Kenren already thinks that I am a whore. So that's pretty much tied up my problems in one horrendous, tangled knot. Even I despise myself for this agreement I made. I only hope he doesn't find out about my bedfellow." Tenpou folded his arms, tapping his cigarette ash out on the stones beside the pond. "I sometimes I wish that I was mortal, just so I could have the option of suicide. Just so I could wipe my conscience clean again and again and try it all over."

 

Kanzeon snorted, "It's not as easy as that, believe me. Even though those living down there are so so easy to get rid of, they try so very hard to live as long as they can. Even those whom you would consider it a mercy to release."

He looked at hir, watching the water, then turned to watch it as well. They both spent a long moment staring at the pond, and several minutes later, Tenpou took his leave and left.

 

`````````

Luckily LiTouten had left by the time he returned. He quickly pulled the bedcovers off and dumped them in a corner, stretching new ones over his bed and piling them high with books. He then sat down against one of his book piles and opened one, falling asleep before he could read the first line.


	3. Bargains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenren doesn't like it, but tries his best to help. Li Touten wants more.

When he returned in the morning, Tenpou was sleeping on the floor, a book beside him. Kenren knelt, taking a closer look at his Marshal. He brushed back the hair that covered his face, noting the bruises and dark circles under his eyes. He wanted so much to pull the clothes off Tenpou, to check for _anything_ else, but what could he possibly say? He sighed, standing up to look for Tenpou's extra futon. He picked him off the floor, laying him down on it and covered him with a blanket. He pushed a strangely wet pillow under his head and lit a cigarette, wondering what the hell just happened.

 

Kenren shoved a few books off a chair and sat, leaning his arms on the back, staring at Tenpou. He wasn't sure when he had fallen for the pretty Marshal, but he had fallen, and fallen hard. He still could not understand him though, why he chooses to do certain things over another. Maybe he shouldn't have pressed Tenpou so hard last night. He was entitled to his secrets, and it shouldn't matter to him who Tenpou spent his nights with, but damn it stung. Even _if_ Tenpou had slept with someone, and that was a big if, last night, how did he get that bruise? He had seen red marks on his neck too, the sort that looked as if it had hurt. He was sure that he would have heard it if Tenpou did not consent to whatever it was. 

 

 _Damnit._ He stood, feeling restless. His usual drinking spots would not accept him now, he would most probably start a fight, Gokuu would ask him too many questions and both the blonde and the albino would just stare at him and shove him out of the door. Maybe not Goujun, he was too polite for that, but his stares could wear down a stone wall if he looked at it long enough. 

 

With a sigh, he stooped to pick up some of the fallen books and lazily tossed them on any avalible shelves. _It all comes down to this don’t it? First order and everything._

 

```````

Tenpou woke up to a clean room. _So Kenren? ... Oh damnit, of course it is him, he's the only one whose reflex action is to clean up my room while in it._ There was a blanket thrown over him and he was lying on his extra futon. _I was sure that I lost this thing long ago..._ The General was leaning against his desk, smoking like there was no tomorrow. 

 

"Any chance of you telling me what happened last night? I came back later, I _wished_ to. So here I am."

 

"Nothing happened, Taishou. Why do you ask?" He sat up, going through his pockets to find his own cigarettes. 

 

The lines around Kenren's mouth tightened. "I am not an idiot, _Marshal_. I know something fishy happened yesterday." 

 

Tenpou stared back at him, saying nothing, his ever ready smile already on his face. _Go away. Go away so we can pretend that nothing happened at all._ Kenren sighed, stabbing his cigarette out on the ashtray. He walked over to Tenpou and knelt.

 

"Look here, Marshal." He tipped Tenpou's face up, gently running his thumb over the bruise on his cheek. "I know. I know that I am only a _Taishou_ , and as yet, not qualified to give advice to my _Marshal_ at all, but surprisingly, I know about a few things, rape, for one, abuse is another. I don't know them because I have done any of those things to another, but I’ve seen people who have been through it. I know how they act after it." Tenpou's expression didn't change, still with the same pleasant smile playing around his lips. 

 

"Are you saying that is what happened to me? That someone raped me? Is that why I am acting so weird?" _So close Kenren, so close, but no cigar._ He pushed the General away, one of his hands finding his glasses and putting them on. His cigarettes were actually beside his glasses on the floor, next to the lighter. He lit up, giving him a rueful grin. "Not this time, Taishou, not this time." 

 

Kenren got up. How can you argue with him when he goes like that? How can you?

 

Tenpou broke the silence, with a somewhat cheery, "I think we were supposed to meet with the heads of the other army now." 

 

These meetings were getting more and more insistent and less and less interesting every time.

 

"Must I go?" 

 

"Of course." He took a drag, "I'm not going, and so you should take my place." 

 

"What?! Why?!" 

 

"I don't want to." _Because I am not even sure that I stand without wincing, much less walk._ "So be a good Taishou and go to the meeting in my place." _Note to self, night-time wanderings are ill advised for a reason._ He looked up, carefully not looking into his General's eyes.

 

"Fine. I will." He turned, giving a lazy salute. "I will take your place at the boring ass freak show meeting, _sir_ , doing my _duty_ as a _good Taishou_ by _your_ order." 

 

Tenpou stared up at him, suddenly regretting his decision, even as he mumbled the proper command for Kenren to leave.

 

````````````````

That was not the only strange _incident_ that he had come across. Other than that there were times when he would try to come in to find the doors locked, or when he did manage to get in, he found the office empty, with Tenpou coming back at strange hours. 

 

"Kenren?" Again, the entire office was clean, with the general leaning against his desk waiting for his return. Again. He already had a bath prepared for him, and clean sheets on the bed. He was always silent during these situations, his jaw set and his face grim. 

 

He pushed the Marshal into the bath, plucking him out half an hour later by throwing him a towel and his clothes. After Tenpou came out, he steered him to the bed, tucking him in and turning off the lights before he slipped in behind him. 

 

It sometimes scared Tenpou, the way everything was done in silence, the grim look on his General's face, the way he had everything neatly arranged. It didn't seem right, that he would be treated so... kindly. So nicely, it was like his deepest thoughts had come to reality. In fact, too good to be true. 

 

``````````````  
__

_"What about we try something a little different today, _Marshal?_ "_


	4. Contracts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At this point on, my beta fell off the face of the earth.  
> Ruminations on the word 'whore' take place and Li Touten breaks boundaries.

``````````````````````````

"Damnit Tenpou. Why won't you tell me what is going on?!" Kenren must have asked him the same question a million times by now. He heard them all, lying on his side, pretending to be asleep. He ignored him, what could he possibly say? What could he possibly do? Kenren would have to wait, him with his theories that hit uncomfortably close to the truth, he would have to just take his curiousity elsewhere. 

_I thought that you said you were not a whore_. Is that what he was? He remembered checking one of the dictionaries that he had strewn around the office. 

_whore (n)_  
A prostitute.  
A person considered sexually promiscuous.  
A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.  
  
Not the first one. Not the second either. Compromised principles for personal gain. Bingo. He had closed the dictionary and tossed it over his shoulder to join the rest of the books on the floor. So, by the standards of whoever wrote that, he was a whore. 

Damn. Everything seemed to be spiraling out of control, and he was powerless to stop it.

```````````````````````````````````

He was walking back from yet another useless meeting when he was alerted by a messenger that LiTouten required his presence in his home. He thanked the messenger and changed his course, hoping against hope that he was needed for something other than their agreement.

 _His wife must be out._ Li's simple house was in a secluded corner, with a few trees on the front gardens. The door opened up at his touch, and he walked in, carefully keeping his face blank. There was no one he could see at the sitting room. Maybe he was mistaken and this was the wrong place. 

"Up here, Marshal." Bedroom. Where else? The Minister was lounging on his bed, already waiting for him. 

"Evening, Minister." He kept the greeting short, not bothering with anything beyond the absolute minimum for politeness. 

Tenpou stood still, his arms crossed against his stomach, waiting for the inevitable. "Marshal. By the tone of your voice, I would have thought that you hated me." 

He didn't even take a moment to think, "Of course I hate you. I hate you so much that if there is nothing stopping me from doing so, I would gladly kill you right here on this very spot. What would have made you think otherwise?" He started to undo the buttons on his shirt, hating himself even more with every bit of skin he exposed. Li grinned, watching as Tenpou stripped almost bare and stopped, left only in his boxers. Such beautiful skin; marked only in a few places where battles had left their scars or where he had made his. 

"What about we try something different today?" He held up a pair of handcuffs, wide and thick with some sort of padding inside. "I got these from Down Below, and I would like to see you in them." 

"You seem to have me confused with some someone who actually _wants_ to have intercourse with you. I say you just do whatever you did the previous time and I will leave. I have a meeting in another two hours, so I need to be early." _I'd rather die than let you have more control over me. It is bad enough that your touch already makes me feel as though I should cleanse my skin with a wire brush._

"Oh really?" The next thing he registered was that he had been punched, straight across the face. It sent his glasses flying to the floor and he stared down, noting the dirt and grime there. Doesn't this man have a wife? Or does his wife hate him so much that she spends as much time out of the house to get away from him? "I say that you just lie back and I'll just take what is mine." 

Tenpou took a step back, swallowing hard, he couldn't bring himself to look at Li at the moment. "Since when was I your personal sex slave? This is a transaction, you fuck me, and we leave. I don't recall any _other_ things." 

"Mine? Of course you are mine. Who else would you belong to? Sex slave?" He let out a laugh, his blurred form even more terrifing out of focus. " What are you then, if not that?" He was coming closer and closer. This had never happened, he normally just took what he wanted and left. Everything felt wrong, from the place and the timing to what the minister wanted of him. 

"I don't belong to anyone!" This was getting out of control, too much out of control and the next thing he was aware of screaming were the things he had tried to hold back all these years. "Don't touch me! Let go of me, you fucking pervert!" 

Li quickly caught the flailing arms and locked them into the pair of cuffs he was holding. Before the Marshal realised what had happened, he had pulled him over to the bed and secured his bound hands to the bedpost. Tenpou stared up at him, so somehow even more innocently than the first time, betrayed and confused. 

"Of course you belong to me." He ran his fingers over Tenpou's cheek, enjoying the expression on his face as the marshal realised what had happened. "Only me. Do you know how long I've been waiting for this moment? When you finally drop that stupid pretence."


	5. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actual rape happens. You've been warned.  
> Li Touten's wife shows up and finally brings Kenren to see his lover.

````````````````````````  
_Stop it. Stop it. Stop touching me. Just stop it!!_ Everything was out of control. He could not push the minister away, could not do anything at all to stop him. His voice was trembling, even as he tried to master his emotions. "Bastard! Let go of me." He could do nothing. Nothing at all. 

"Did you think you were enough? All you did was to stay still and shut up. What difference is it from me fucking my wife? Crazy bitch that she is. No, _Marshal_ , I want to hear you scream."

He closed his eyes, trying to take refuge in his mind, to block everything out as he always did in the past, but it was not working. No matter what he thought of, his thoughts kept on returning to the present. There was a mouth, biting at his collarbone, nipping at his ears even as he felt hands twisting his nipples, pinching and prodding at his body. His wrists were getting chafed from pulling at the cuffs and he could not stop the cries that escaped from him. He gave up all his masks, crying freely at the helplessness and disgust he felt. The minister's hand ran up his side, another tangled itself in his hair, his legs were forced apart. He could not move, could not get away from the intruding touch. _Please, let me faint, let me not remember this at all. Just get me away from this._

Even if he opened his eyes, all that he could see was colour. Watery, too bright colour. The lights were on and all he could see was Li, a dark shape against the light. The minister got off him, hooking his fingers into the waistband of his boxers and pulling them down before tossing them over his shoulder. Tenpou pulled his legs up, sitting up against the headboard. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run. 

The next few minutes were... strange, his vision reduced to just colour and light. Everything seemed louder, from the sound of his strangled sobs to the pleased laughter of LiTouten. He felt giddy, like he was falling unconscious, making everything worse. _Please, let me forget. Let me not feel this._

He remembered snatches of what actually happened, a few seconds here, a few seconds there but when he attempted to straighten everything out, nothing made sense anymore.

_"No... Please, no..."_

Was that his voice he heard, begging the torture to stop? 

Was that him? That crying figure leaning against the headboard? It can't be. Why was he so looking so vulnerable? It is not right, not like the stubborn Marshal to give in so easily. But everything was moving too fast, out of control, he could not think, could not think at all. The previous _arrangements_ were distasteful, but he could control them, he could push Li away if he overstepped, unlike now. 

Tenpou raised his head, seeing Li moving in closer, the widest grin he had ever seen on a person on his face. He kicked out, catching the minster square in the chest. He nearly fell off the bed, as Tenpou again pulled at his bonds. The cuffs must have cost a lot, they were unbreakable and he had no idea where the key was. Li got back up, cursing as he made a grab for Tenpou's leg. The Marshal moved away, kicking out again. He could not remember how many times they played that game of cat and mouse but the Minister soon tired of it and he sat on the other end of the bed, breathing heavily as Tenpou glared at him. 

"My, quite a wildcat aren't you? Perfect." 

There was a period of darkness and somehow, Li had gotten him pinned again. He struggled; Li was pulling his head back, kissing him deeply as he moved himself in between his legs again. _Don't touch me!_

There was a brief period of nothing again, and then suddenly there was something, pushing at his entrance. He tried to squirm away, but there was nowhere to run. 

"S... Sstop. Stop it, please." Too much, too fast! He screamed. 

Broken in, at last.

`````````````````````````

He had finally fallen unconscious when Li finished with him, whimpering softly to himself.

"Touten? Are you here? I ha- WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT POOR MAN?!" Li got up, smirking heavily as he turned to confront his wife. She was standing at the doorway, decked out in her finer robes, staring in shock at the scene. 

"So the slut is back?" Li cleaned himself on the blanket, getting up. He tied his robes shut before he got off the bed to stand a few meters away from his wife. 

She barely had time for another admonish before Li slapped her. "Shut up. Spend the rest of the night with the new whore, bitch. I'll come back in the morning. Make sure you get the other whore cleaned up." She was shoved into the room, door slamming shut behind her and the lock clicking into place.

With nothing else to do, she approached the trembling figure on the bed. She grabbed the key from the dresser, unlocking the cuffs that bound the man to the bed frame. She moved slowly, with one hand to her mouth, muffling her sobs, as she tried to repair what damage her husband had caused. _Such a young boy..._ She thought, her wrinkles betraying her actual age as she brushed back the hair from his face, her eyes widening as she recognised who her husband had raped. 

 

`````````````````````````

 _He's not back yet._ Kenren was restless again. He had already cleaned up most of the library and he was now sitting on the desk smoking. _He should have been back hours ago. Even if he went to meet up with his_ secret _whatever._ The entire thing irked him, from the start of it all. He could overlook the fact that Tenpou was keeping a lover if he wanted, but he was damn sure that the Marshal was not. _I notice things, like how he comes back exhausted, in a bad way, with his eyes all blank as if something inside him had died. He comes back with bruises and he walks with a limp. You'd think that he'd just tell me the truth any time soon, but he doesn’t. He just shuts up and pretends that everything is normal. Hah. As if._

"Is this Marshal Tenpou's office?" Kenren looked up, wondering who it could be. 

It was a woman, all dressed up but with her makeup smudged. It looked as if someone had hit her, straight across the face. She stared back at him, something strange in her eyes.

"I am Fei Ye." _Now who the hell are you?_ "You may know me as Li Touten's wife." _Li Touten?_ Kenren suddenly had a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling. Her voice cracked as she said the next few words. "I... I am sorry for what... my husband has done to Marshal Tenpou..." Tears fell from her eyes, smudging her make up more. "Don't hurt me!"

"What!?" He didn't even realise it but upon hearing her words, had jumped up and grabbed her painfully by the shoulders. He let go, feeling the need to beat the pulp out from someone. 

"I didn't know about it. I swear. I just came back and... and... the poor boy..." She trailed off, covering her mouth with her hand. 

Kenren pushed her away, he had enough. He was going to find that disgusting pervert of a minister and just beat him into the furniture. "You can't go through the main entrance! He locked it; I snuck out from the hidden doors." The general twitched, clenching and unclenching his fist as he waited for the woman to lead the way.


	6. Bonded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenren drives a note into the door with a stapler.   
> Tenpou tries to apologise.  
> There is lots of instances of the word 'fuck', but if you had come this far, that um, really shouldn't bother you.

He had never even been to these parts of Tenkai, he didn't even know these hallways existed. He just followed the woman down the corridors, through a few doors and sharp twists. _I am gonna kill that fucking sick bastard if he hurt him._ Even as he planned out what he was going to do to the minister, his mind kept on wondering what exactly was going on with Tenpou and LiTouten. He doubted that the woman in front of him even knew anything. _He comes back all beat up and so fucking silent about it. Its not right. It is not..._ She was quiet, sometimes looking back to check if he was still there. _I mean, he could always tell me. It is not as though that I would judge him. I guess._ If he had bothered to hear, he would have heard her crying into the night.

The finally wound up in front of a small half hidden door set into the wall. Fei Yi wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She bit her bottom lip, placing a hand on Kenren's arm. 

"Please..." She stopped, trying to find the correct words to express her intent. "Don't beat up my husband too much. I know he is a bastard, but... I married him." Her eyes implored him, trying to find understanding. Although why she would ever want to marry such a man was beyond him. LiTouten looked disgusting even when he was younger. Kenren could remember him when they were both younger. He was always the one hanging around deserted corners, just sitting there staring at nothing. He looked even more unappealing when he started doing his hair in the current dreadlocks. But even then, Kenren nodded curtly. _Still sticking up for him? Why? I thought that you of all people would want to see him dead the most. I thought your marriage was a political contract rather than one of mutual affection._

He shoved her aside, pushing open the door. _Tenpou? Where are you?_ He stood, just waiting until his eyes adjusted to the dark. The first thing he saw was Tenpou's glasses. They were on the floor a few meters away from the bed. _What happened to you?_ The Marshal's white labcoat was hanging off the dressing table's chair. He picked them up, slowly, continuning with his inner ranting. The shirt and tie was crumpled in a heap next to the chair, belt coiled up nearby. _Why the fuck didn't you tell me about this._ Each article of clothing moved him closer and closer to the bed. He continued, until he found Tenpou's black boxers at the side of the bed. He picked them up, standing up slowly to pick up his Marshal.

Tenpou was on his side, both his hands beside his face. _Fuck_. Fei Yi had covered him with a blanket, and tried to clean him up a bit, wiping most of the blood off.

Kenren reached out to touch Tenpou's face, running his knuckles down his cheek, trying to overcome the feeling of murderous rage that was threatening to find an outlet. _Why? Why would'nt you tell me what was happening? Why wait until this had to happen? Why, you stupid idiot! Why didn't you fucking trust me?_ Tenpou looked helpless, so freaking scared. His wrists were red, a thick line circling the them. The brusing didn't stop there, he could see red marks on his neck and shoulders. He knew that there were more under the blanket, but damned was he if he wanted to confirm that now. _I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill that fucking bastard._

The woman, _what was her name again?_ , was staring down at her feet. "I cleaned him up as much as possible. I think you should go before he unlocks the door. I don't want him to know that I have another way out." She continued staring at the floor. 

Kenren just nodded his agreement, he wrapped the blankets around Tenpou and picked him up, grunting a little at his weight. Tenpou was lighter than what he looked like, he tended to forget to eat at times, at that had affected his weight a lot over the years. He looked over at Fei Yi, standing over by her doorway, her hand to her mouth, looking at the floor. _I want to fucking kill him. I don't care. I'm gonna kill him._ "I'm sorry. I really am." He ignored her, stepping out, carrying his Marshal out.

\-------  
He kicked the books off Tenpou's bed, before he put him down on it. His wrists were bruised the most, reddened and sore. There was a line of dried blood down the side of his mouth, he must had bitten his lip to keep silent. _You fucking_ idiot _..._

\----  
LiTouten came back to his bedroom in the morning. He smirked to himself as he thought back on yesterday's events. He had finally gotten what he really wanted from the Marshal. He broken him in at last. He could still see those green eyes, shut in pain and fear. He could still hear Tenpou's cries, controlled at first, quickly going down into desperate gasps and then into near silent sobs. He wondered what if he could wring the same reaction out from his victim again today. Maybe he should put them both together in the same bed, the Marshal and his wife. Maybe. He turned the knob to the bedroom, hardly containing his excitement.  
\---

Kenren stayed by his Marshal's bed, occasionally getting up to answer the door. He was surprised by the number of visitors Tenpou recieved and he was soon getting tired of shooing them away. A bunch of papers on the desk nearby caught his eye. Kenren sighed, picked up a pen and grabbed the first paper on the stack.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Marshal Tenpou is indisposed today.  
You may try again at a later date or just fuck off now.

-Kenren Taishou   
\---------------------------------------------------------------------

He went out, driving the note into the door with the stapler. He couldn't care less who saw it, as long as they stayed away. 

When he got back, Tenpou was awake. He was sitting up, staring at the blankets, silent. _You..._

The build up of the worry and rage that was slowly growing for three days was just too much. He strode up to the bed, shoving the Marshal around so that he was looked up at him.

"What the fuck were you thinking!? No, don't tell me that, what the fuck were you even doing thinking about that! Do you know how fucking worried I was, how fucking angry I am!? Wha-" 

As soft as the sentence was, he still managed to catch it mid-rant. "I'm sorry."


	7. Pacts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenren is righteously angry and leaves because a n g e r y.  
> Tenpou gets visitors who apparently can't read the stapled sign.  
> Plot twist, one of them is Li Touten. (Boss, you should just expect it at this point)

\---

If anything, that only got him angrier, "You think that is enough?! Fuck you, Marshal! Fuck you until you tell me what is going through your fucking mind when you agreed to do that sick fuck of that minister!" He was yelling at the marshal, not caring who heard them. Tenpou's eyes widened at the general's reaction and he just replied without thinking.

"You think I actually _wanted_ to have sex with him??!" Tenpou said; not yelling, but his voice was equally as loud. "I was using him to get what I wanted. In case you have not noticed, the system that we are working in is just so damned fucked." He pushed Kenren's hands off his shoulders. "I don't see why you can't understand that. It is such a simple fact to grasp." 

Kenren grabbed one of Tenpou's wrists, he held it out in front of the Marshal, trying hard not to press too hard. "Do you see this?!" He shook it, still furious. He let go, tipping Tenpou's face up to face him. He ran his thumb over split lips and darkening bruises, hard blue eyes boring into Tenpou's green ones. "Don't you feel that?!" He harshly pulled Tenpou's shirt up, being more gentle as he heard the hiss from the Marshal. He slowly ghosted his hands over the bandages and plasters he had put on there. "Don't you fucking remember what happened?!" He shook his head, anger suddenly gone. "You think that _you_ were using _him_? My dear Marshal, if you _were_ , using _him_ , why are _you_ the one that got so hurt?" Kenren released him.

Tenpou blinked, keeping silent. Thoughts whirled through his mind, searching for anything that might explain away everything. Kenren was looking at him, something he couldn't identify in his eyes. "You don't understand." He finally whispered, "You just don't."

Kenren closed his eyes, putting one hand to his forehead. "You just don't get it, do you? For the love of whatever matters in this fucking system, I am dealing with an idiotic genius here. Or maybe a genius idiot." He sat down on the edge of the bed. still with his hand covering his eyes.

"What don't I get?" 

The general took a deep breath, looking over at his Marshal. "That you are a stupid bastard, with no respect for your own body. Fuck you, Tenpou. At least I have some standards in who I sleep with. Li Touten is... He's just fucking disgusting! And he fucking hit you!" Kenren's fists clenched and he took another deep breath to calm down.

The marshal looked at him, feeling sick, "Stop making assumptions about what you don't understand. What else are you going to do? Call me a whore again?" 

He turned, trying to keep his voice gentle, "I look at you, and I think of LiTouten. I look at you, and I think of that sick fuck touching you, I get so angry. Especially now, after what he did to you."

Tenpou stared at him, mouth slightly open. "But..." 

"But what, Marshal? Are you going to continue to give excuses for what he did? Or what _you_ did? If so, I don't want to hear it." He got up, snatching up his cigarettes from the side table. 

"Where are you going?" Kenren didn't turn, lazily waving a hand behind him. 

"To find another Marshal who doesn’t out rightly annoy me and stop him from doing something really really idiotic, seeing that I failed with this one." His voice was still tight, trying to keep the most of his anger away, lest he did something irreparable. 

Tenpou laid back on the bed, somehow feeling worse than when he had gotten up. 

\---

His mood was not helped in any way when he woke up to two pairs of eyes watching him. "What do you want?" He asked tersely, hands patting along the bed for his glasses. _Great, I have company._

"I came to check on you, Marshal." The first figure came up to him, clawed fingers picking up his glasses from the side table and putting them into his hand. Tenpou put them on, blinking at the dragon officer. 

"I am alright, sir, why do you ask?" He lied, his eyes taking some time to focus before he looked to the second figure. "And what occasion has it been for the Minister to come visit me too?" He kept his voice light, mind trying not to go back to the last night he was with him. "I don't recall anything that might have anything to do with you being here." Tenpou absently pulled his shirt sleeves down to cover his wrists more. Goujun was staring at him, the same expressionless face he always wore now replaced with something akin to worry. 

"You missed an important mission to the lower world. I wouldn't have bothered to come if it was just a meeting, but you rarely miss missions." Tenpou felt the dragon give him an once-over. "It seems that I am right. What happened to you?" He looked at the Minister, his eyes daring him to tell the truth to Goujun.

"Maybe the Marshal... got hurt by his rather messy and incomprehensible collection of books falling at inopportune times?" 

Tenpou smiled, "Maybe that's what happened, Minister, I don't happen to recall any details about my... misfortune." _Fuck off you bastard, just fuck off._ He turned to Goujun, "I am really fine, sir, I will be up and about in a day or so, two days at most, sir." 

Goujun looked at him again, his eyes seemingly looking through his thin long sleeved shirt. Tenpou was glad that the blankets covered his lower half, he couldn't possibly find an excuse to explain _those_ away. "Well then, Marshal, I will leave you and the Minister alone to discuss whatever he presumably came to discuss." He looked at LiTouten a bit suspiciously though, but he gave him a small nod and went out, closing the door behind him. 

Li came closer, one hand grabbing his wrist and pulling the sleeve up to smirk at the marks left there. Tenpou tried to pull his hand away, not succeeding. He must have been out for longer than he had realised, he felt weak, his struggles slowly stopping. Tenpou closed his eyes, feeling a weight settle on the bed. "Well then, Marshal. Should I continue what I started?"

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point in time when I wrote it, Tenpou had just died in the manga, so I wasn't really feeling up to torturing him that much in this chapter because I was still in (legal age tho) school and was a sobbing mess for a week.


	8. Concessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More rape, its more implied here tho.  
> Kenren gets drunk and picks up someone.  
> Tenpou wants to re-write the agreement (about goddamn time, ne?)

```````  
Tenpou kept still, looking away as he felt the minister let go of his hand. His glasses were picked off his face, as Li grabbed a fistful of his hair to keep him in place as he dove in for a hungry kiss. Tenpou resisted as usual, trying to turn his face away, but the grip on his hair was too strong. Li's dreadlocks fell over his face, and the stubble that was trying to pass for a beard scratched his chin almost painfully. 

When Li let him go, Tenpou immediately spat out whatever was in his mouth. _'Li Touten is... He's just fucking disgusting!'_ He tried to sit up but Li pushed him back down, "Well then Marshal, where is your precious Taishou now?" He glared at him, keeping his mouth shut. "Not going to answer me? Tsk, tsk. After hearing what _delicious_ sounds you make in bed the other day?" He turned his face away, not wanting to say anything, not wanting to even look at him. 

He felt something running over the bandages on his waist and hips, there more to cover up the bruises than to actually keep anything in place. 

"Bastard." He whispered, not even trying to put up his usual show of resistance, so Li wanted him to cry out, did he? Tenpou sure was not going to give him that satisfaction anymore.  
```````

 

Kenren had decided to drink away some of his troubles, slipping down to the lower world, clad in his favourite sweater and jeans instead of the easily identifiable uniform he wore. _Damn that idiot of a Marshal for getting me into this mess._ He just got so angry at the thought of LiTouten getting his sick pleasure from Tenpou. Tenpou was so small; well he was smaller than him, and so fucking pretty and it wasn't fair that that bastard could have it, and not him. (1)

He shook his head, thoughts like these are not going to lead anywhere. He wished he knew what Tenpou was thinking, because he sure as hell couldn't think of any logical reason why the Marshal would whore himself out to that pervert. It was bad enough that Tenpou _was_ sleeping with Li, but the recent... situation that Kenren had to recover Tenpou from just.. made him wonder if it was truly as normal as Tenpou wanted him to think. He supposed the occasional.. fling, as much as he hated that word applied to whatever... relati- whatever Tenpou and Li had going on between them, was... okay. It made him sick to think of it, sick and angry and so so fucking frustrated, but he knew that if Tenpou wasn't the one under Li, Kenren wouldn't have minded at all. If it were anyone else, it was just a simple case of power politics. But, it was Tenpou, which made it more than _just_ politics, it went deeper than just friendship, more than just a simple case of lust either. Furthermore, Tenpou sure didn't seem to consent to it, not if his stumbling back at weird hours of the night had anything to do with it. Not that he liked the idea of Tenpou actually liking Li, the idea alone made his spit out his mouthful of sake onto the counter. 

"Watch it!" The barman glared at him, sullenly wiping up the mess he had made. Kenren gave him an apologetic look before going back to his thoughts.

He wondered if he was too harsh with the Marshal. Was he too possessive? Too possessive over something that was never really his in the first place. Sure, he had taken care of Tenpou a few times, slept on the same bed with him once or twice but did he really have that much of a right to the Marshal? Did Tenpou consider all that he had done for him merely the actions of a General loyal to his officer? 

Kenren groaned, signalling to the barman to bring him another bottle. This was going to be a long night. 

Tenpou was entitled to whoever he wanted to sleep with. He had gone through his before, and if that included that fucking bastard of a Minister, then Kenren simply had no say in the matter. That was it, end of story. He drained another bowl, pouring himself another generous helpful. The bottle on the counter soon joined the rest on the floor, he looked at them, how many were there? Two, three? Five? They were beginning to multiply the longer he looked at them.

"Hey there, handsome." He looked up from his self induced stupor to find someone vaguely female sitting next to him. "Girl troubles getting you down?"

"Well.. Sorta." He mumbled out, looking her over. She looked kinda like Tenpou.. If Tenpou ever grew boobs and put on lipstick so red it made fire ashamed of its colour. Her hair was longer though, almost to her waist and more of a lighter brown than the nearly-black shade of his Marshal. Gray eyes though, not much like the beautiful green he had come to know, and not blocked by glass. Typical hooker attire, and somehow Kenren wanted to take those clothes off her and replace them Tenpou's shirt, pants and lab coat combination. It wasn't... right... that someone who looked.. eveeen.. a..biiittt.. liike.. Ten..pou... should... weaaar.. lii..kee. thaaaaaa... Fuck, even his thoughts were beginning to slur. "Howw... muucc.. hic.. for.. a. niightt?" 

```````  
He had to cry out, even though it was not much, if he wasn't already so fucked up from before, he could even keep his face at a smile. But now, with everything and the added hurt of Kenren's words to him, nothing else mattered except trying to make the whole thing end as soon as possible. And that included letting the minister hear exactly what he wanted from him.

Li finally finished, wiping himself off with the bed sheets. He laughed. "I could really get used to this. Now that you are finally broken in like the bitch you are."

Tenpou glared at him, furiously wiping his tears off with his sleeve. It was not good to show such signs of weakness to him, no matter what degradation he had just gone through at the hands of Li, he still wanted to preserve what was left of his dignity. His voice came out in a cracked whisper, and he coughed, trying to find a better tone. "I propose a re-write of our agreement."

```````

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) My friend and I have done a bit on research on this topic, and Tenpou is shorter than about everyone in the Gaiden cast except for Gokuu and possibly Kanzeon. He's shorter than Li, Kenren, Goujun and about the same height as Konzen. And Konzen's high heels are magical, because in almost every shot, he's never the same height. Or he could just have many many different pairs of heels. Idek, _walk walk fashion baby_?


	9. Awakenings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenren calls an actual whore a whore. Regrets it tho.  
> Tenpou's not there when Kenren comes back.  
> Kenren thinks he went to Li Touten's and decides to go on the warpath.

```````  
She had brought him to the local cheap inn, with a window that didn't close properly and a mattress of questionable integrity. He just watched her from the bed as she stripped, slipping out of her barely there clothes. When she was finally done, she pushed him over, straddling his still clothed body. "Why so unresponsive, handsome?" 

_You're not Tenpou._ His drunk mind whispered to him. _That's why... Fuck that Marshal. I can't even get it up for someone who_ looks _like him._ "Its nothing, just thinking..." He reached up to touch her face, pushing her hair back to stare into those not-green eyes. "You're not as pretty as Ten-chan.." 

She could have chosen to be insulted, or affronted, but she just smiled, holding his hand to her face. "Ten-chan's that girl getting you down?" The lights were still on, he realised blurrily, highlighting everything; from her waist long hair to her small lithe body. It was so much like Tenpou's... so much, yet not at all like him. 

"You're very young, aren't you?" He said, running his free hand down her side, looking up at her. "Like Ten-chan. She hides it, but I've seen her records. She's really younger than me. But by the way she acts, you'd think that he's a big shot with millennia of experience." The general smiles, just staring up at her, not making any move to touch her other than the hand on her side and the other still cupping her face. 

The girl was now looking at him a bit strangely, almost afraid maybe, so different from the confident streetwalker she was acting out a minute ago. "I... I don't know what you are talking about..." 

The general just pulled her down on his chest, their legs tangling amidst the sheets. "I'll still pay you, whatever you want... but just lie here with me." He whispered to the air. "Because Tenpou'll never let me take care of him like this. Because he'll never let me hold him and just let me tell him that I do actually, for some stupid reason I can't figure out right now, I love him." His voice was starting to crack up and for reasons he couldn't explain, there were tears in his eyes. 

She tucked her head under his chin, wrapping an arm around him, whispering softly. "So you want me to be Ten-chan for tonight?" The light glared down on the both of them, the only thing that she could see was her customer's chest, scarred all over. She wondered about this 'Ten-chan' he was talking about. What did she do to make him so overwrought? She guessed that this Ten-chan must have broken up with him. Maybe even refused to go out in the first place. Whatever it is, she was sure that it was just some trivial fancy. Kenren was pretty famous around many of the nearby towns. Him with his popularity and handsome looks. His short black hair and mesmerising blue eyes... She guiltily jerked out of her reverie, lying still on his chest. 

He didn't seem to hear her earlier question, continuing with his whisperings. "And he's being such a fucking stupid ass right now." The hand stroking her hair stopped, and she could feel it pull away as it clenched, trying not to hurt her in his anger. "Whoring himself out to that sick fuck of a minister." He suddenly stopped, realising his audience. "Shit, I'm sorry." His hand went back to her hair, gentler than before. "I didn't mean that in your.. like.. I mean.. I didn't mean _you_ especially." 

He was quiet after that, and after a while, she heard his soft breathing, steady and slow. As soon as that happened, she gently pulled herself away from his arms, gathering up her clothes and switching off the light. "No charge for this one, handsome." She patted his head gently, leaning over to kiss him chastely on the forehead. "Good luck with that Ten-chan of yours." 

The night was still young, and besides, no matter how much Kenren's words had hurt her, intentionally or not, she still needed to earn a living. Maybe one day do something... more... respectable? But for now, for at least another night, a whore she would stay.

``````

Kenren woke up in the late afternoon in a bed he didn't recognise. That was almost normal for him; before he was put under Tenpou's command of course, but now that he _was_ under Tenpou's care... it was just.. strange. 

His head _hurt_ and the sunlight coming in through the half open window was too bright for the dingy room. He groaned as a few details of last night filtered through his hung-over mind. He remembered shouting at Tenpou, remembered trying to make him see _why_ he was so angry. He also remembered leaving before he could make things worse by _talking_ ; before he could _physically_ make things worse by hitting sense into that stupid idiot of a Marshal. With all of his willpower, he sat up, wishing that the room would stop spinning.

He dragged himself upright, somehow making it back to the gates of heaven without once falling over. Maybe he should apologise or something. Or at the very least check up on him. 

Everyone stared at him as he passed by, and even through the pounding headache, he could feel that their whisperings were louder than usual. What was wrong with them? He used to go around half drunk all the time. Well... that was before... So what if he _had_ stopped his famous drinking and whoring routine? Even just for a short while. Kenren ignored them, finding Tenpou's office without unnesessary fuss and going in.

Even though his vision was still a bit blurry, he was pretty sure that Tenpou was _not_ on his bed. The bedroom was empty, the bed tidily made up with books tossed haphazardly over it as if to cover up something. _Fucking damn it!_ Nor was he in the bathroom either. The general rifled through Tenpou's office, not finding him anywhere. _Don't tell me..._ Kenren just stopped as the thought struck him. _Don't tell me that fucking idiot actually went to Li's.. again?_ Tenpou was still injured, but Kenren wouldn't put it past him to push himself even more. 

Well, if Tenpou _did_ go with Li, he sure was not going to let Li have him this time. Kenren turned, walking over to the desk, pulling Tenpou's gun out from one of the drawers. It was the standard issue tranquilliser gun, but it's better than nothing. His empty holster was still on him; who knows where his gun went, and with a quick splash at the sink, he went out to retrieve his marshal for the second time in the week.

He was barely out the door when someone called him. "Taishou? Where do you think you are going?"


	10. Awakenings Pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenpou wakes up and goes to the first place Kenren should have looked in but didn't for some reason.  
> Also, Kenren doodles shit during meetings. (But again, who doesn't?)  
> Goujun is pissed because he didn't realise shit earlier, and decides to take it out on our poor general.

Tenpou woke up with everything hurting again. That was normal, that was just fine, as normal as it has been since he wrote that stupid agreement with Li. Tenpou ignored every signal that his body was giving him; signals telling him to stay in bed a bit more and rest, signals that told him he would be going to fall over in about an hour of getting up again, and shuffled to the bathroom. The tap was left on, extra hot water added to the mix as he shuffled back to his bed and started pulling the bedcovers off and stretching new ones over. Almost like habit. A habit that he wasn't really very glad of keeping. 

Idly he wondered why he was still doing this. Why was he bothering to cover up the crime that has happened now, even after Kenren has found out. His rooms were already messy enough, he supposed no one would even care that there was blood and semen on the bed sheets. But then again, messy rooms were normal, blood on the bed sheets were never so. He shook his head. Focus, Tenpou, focus. No matter how many times it had happened, no matter how many times it will happen, the same feeling of detachment always hit him right after he woke up. First the detachment, that was easy, it was the feeling of disgust with himself that was the hard bit to keep hidden. 

The bathroom floor was wet when he stepped back inside to turn the tap off. The water was almost too hot, but he just grit his teeth, waiting those few seconds over until his body adjusted to the heat and it became relaxing. He didn't want to think about last night, pushing the memory away as soon as it came. Focus. That was what he needed, or else the detachment would get stronger and then the self loathing would start again. And it gets more intense after each 'session'. Tenpou picked up the washcloth, moving automatically, scrubbing too hard at his skin, everywhere Li had touched. But no matter how red his skin turned, the memory was still there. 

_The feeling of his fingers scraping along his neck, the lingering touches down his chest, the wa-_ No. Focus. Focus. Anything else. 

Kenren? Kenren's probably waking up with a huge hangover and naked women strewn across his bed. It's probably for the best not to think of Kenren at the moment. 

Idly his mind wondered why was he paying so much attention to what Kenren thought. It's not like the general was going to even remember his name after a few years or at most refer to him as the pretty weird one who was fucking a minister for something or other. He was too much of a playboy, too much of a ladies man. Too much of everything to be involved in his male superior's twisted life. 

Tenpou shook himself, finding that the water had turned cold during his thoughts. He got out, pulled the plug and went to dress himself. 

There were a lot of Kenren's clothes in his closet. A lot more than he had realised before. They weren't all uniforms, he had a few sweaters, tee-shirts and button down shirts in there as well. Tenpou smiled, realising that they were all in black, with exception of a single white collared shirt. Kenren's belts, Kenren's gloves, an extra pair of his boots, there were even a few pairs of boxers that Kenren had somehow left in Tenpou's closet. He picked up a sweater, one of Kenren's favourites, bringing it to his face. It was newly washed, the sharp smell of lemon nearly masking the other smells, cologne, musk, and maybe also a very faint whiff of cheap perfume. Tenpou pulled it on, finding it to be a bit too big, the sleeves reached the second knuckle of his middle finger, and the hem came to rest somewhere around mid thigh. It was strangely warm and he decided to keep it on, grabbing an old pair of his own jeans to go with it.

The hot bath had relaxed most of his aching muscles and Tenpou went to his kitchen, downing a few painkillers in anticipation of what would happen later. He had the day off, Goujun and the others probably still believing him too ill to go anywhere. True, he _was_ still too ill, but that had never stopped him before, and fuck it if it was going to stop him again.

He picked up a few of the books lying around his feet and threw them onto the bed, still not quite sure why he bothered to do that now that Kenren already knew why he covered the evidence. One of the books that he picked up shook out another thinner bound volume. 

Interestedly, Tenpou went over to pick it up. The original book was a treatise on etiquette while at military gatherings that Tenpou had given Kenren to read, the volume it shook out turned out to be what seemed to be crude drawings of long blond haired, large-breasted women in various sexual positions with a short haired man in black. The drawings were done in pencil, pen, even highlighter and with a chuckle, Tenpou realised that Kenren must have done it by himself during the heavier meetings. He flipped to the middle of the crude book, where the drawings suddenly began to change. The women had shorter hair, most of them became brunettes. Their breasts became smaller, and a few were actually clothed in what seemed to be in the army's black uniform. The next few wore glasses, the next had shoulder length hair. With a start, Tenpou found himself looking at a sketch of himself, both hands on the table, looking away to concentrate on a small speaker drawn at a far corner of the table. 

Tenpou looked down at the last page, remembering that he had given Kenren another book after this; a biography about a noted general in the lower world. He located it, shaking it out to find yet more pieces of paper. There were more sketches of him, mostly at meetings looking bored. There was even one of him in the formal robes, looking mightily pissed off. Tenpou remembered that night, some drunk pervert had tried to pull his outfit apart and molest him then and there. He had poured his wine all over that unlucky bastard, then stamped on his foot before punching him in the stomach and haughtily walking away. Where had that gone to? He asked himself, where had that self-respect gone? Tenpou closed the book with a snap, taking out the pieces of paper and tucking both the papers and the book inside his, no, Kenren's sweater. 

He needed to think, somewhere where no sick minister could find him, where Goujun, nor Konzen nor confused, angry, Kenren would find him. Not in his rooms of course, that was too easy. Tenpou got up, grabbing a nearby bottle of sake he uncovered by moving aside a pile of scrolls. He stopped to lock his door, then went down the secret passageway to the library. Well, the passageway was in the blueprints of the building, but hardly anyone looks at blueprints before deciding on their quarters... 

```````````

Kenren turned, finding the speaker to be Goujun. "I am going to find my Marshal." _You better not try and stop me you fucking dragon._

"I thought you were supposed to stay with him?" Came the reply, straight to the point. "Certainly I had _expected_ you to stay with him, considering not only the rumours but the extremely obvious amount of time you stay by his side." Goujun was standing in the corridors, his hand on the doorknob of Tenpou's main door. "You lost him?" Those reptilian dark red eyes seemed to pierce through him, as if Goujun knew what had happened last night. Kenren wouldn't put it past him, he had to have some contacts somewhere to have climbed so high up the rankings. "Taishou?" 

Kenren glared at him, not finding the words to reply. How can he be so calm about this? How can he just stand there and do nothing at all. "What?" He finally replied, not bothering to tack on a 'sir' at the end, not even bothering to turn around properly to face him. 

"I asked you a question, _Taishou_." Goujun said, in a near snarl. The weight behind every word was already a warning. _Do not piss me off for I have claws where you have fingernails and I bite hard enough to draw blood._

"Well, so what?" Kenren replied, a sour taste in his mouth. He knew this was going to go badly, heck, if he managed to avoid the torture chamber at the end of the day, he'll count himself lucky. "I'm off duty now, I don't need to answer nicely to you." 

With the quick movement that Kenren already half-expected from Goujun, Goujun had the general's collar in his right hand, pressing him to the wall. "Do not make me quote the rulebook at you, _Taishou_. You are still in uniform, so am I, and with rules or without, I expect you to at least show me a semblance of order that I demand from my men." Kenren inwardly started to sigh with annoyance before he looked at the dragon and realised that he was truly angry with him. 

"Whatever, I'm sorry, your highness and all that bullshit." Kenren spat out, glaring back at him. "Now let me go, _sir_. I need to find my Marshal to make sure he's not doing something incredibly stupid yet again." He grabbed the hand on his collar, trying his hardest to pull it away. 

"Stupid? You call the Marshal stupid? I hold him in higher regard than you, and you dare to call him that before me?" The hand around his collar shifted slightly higher, to his neck. 

Kenren managed to force a grin. "I'll call whoever what I think of them, it's not up to you to decide what I think." He tried harder to pull the hand away, Goujun's claws were starting to tear through the leather, and he already felt pinpricks of blood on his neck. "So I will not apologise for calling my _adjutant_ a fucking idiot for doing what he is doing, _sir_." He said again, still with the half lunatic grin. 

Goujun let him go, but not before Kenren felt blood slide down his neck and down onto his chest. "So, tell me then, what is he actually doing that makes you deem it so foolish?" He looked at his hand, making a disgusted sound at the blood there before wiping his claws on his white uniform. The blood stains stood out vividly, a badge of some strange sort it seemed. "Before I grab you by the throat again, you better tell me what happened."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was posted like in 2010, I believe. Thus the sudden jump in writing style.  
> Please hope you guys won't need to wait till 2028 for the next chapter. *laughs then trails off*


	11. Spiraling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Surprise chapter after 10 years!  
> The hunt for Tenpou continues.  
> Tenpou's secret hiding place (is in the first place you'll expect) by Panic! At the Library  
> Woo flashback time! (Now that new trigger warning makes sense, eh?)

He just grinned, a desperate smile stretching his lips. "What makes you think I'll fucking tell you?" Kenren continued, not too sure of what he was doing, even less sure of what he was risking. They had drawn a small crowd, he could see them at the fringes of his vision, soft whisperings and chatter nearly inaudible in his current mood.

Goujun growled again, "You will tell me because firstly I am your superior and I _demand_ you tell me what happened to your marshal." 

"Well then, fuck you, _sir_ because I'll be fucking damned if I know what that idiot's thinking either." The crowd as a whole drew in their breaths, murmurings getting louder in. 

The dragon commander took a step forward, a soft hissing starting to come from him. "Watch it, Taishou. Just watch your mouth." He could see Goujun struggle to remain his composure, to keep himself from tearing Kenren apart where he stood. 

Kenren just grinned, shaking his head slightly. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do? Beat me to a pulp? Isn't that something you always accused me of?" 

He stared at him, years of pent up rage and frustration very close to climaxing. "Taishou." He snarled, "You better get out of my sight NOW."

\-----------

Tenpou had gone by his usual secret passageway to the library. He only brought his sake and the book with Kenren's drawings, tucked inside Kenren's sweater. The ancient librarian didn't even look up as Tenpou walked by, counting his steps as he took the twists and turns to get to his destination. 

The nearly non existant crowd thinned and gradually disappered the further he went, a good sign that he was getting close. Tenpou went took a final turn and stopped in front of a towering bookshelf. He smiled and blew away the dust from the shelves. The dust turned out ot be more than just a single layer and Tenpou suddenly found himself coughing as it settled again. "At least it proves no one's been here." He mused to himself. He moved aside a few books and reached into the empty space that was behind them, his fingers prodding the other books and walls until he found what he was looking for. 

The box was still intact, another good sign that no one had invaded his secret spot. Tenpou opend the box, pressed his sake bottle and Kenren's books inside. He pulled the hidden strap out of the box and slung it over his shoulder. He then rolled up his sleeves and with as minimal cursing as he could manage, leapt up and started climbing the shelves. The heavy bookshelf didn't as much as creak as he went up, his limbs remembering the route even if he didn't. His muscles soon cried out in protest at being ill treated so soon after they've taken a beating but he didn't care, pressing on. The climb was a long one but it would have been quicker had he been in full health. His fingers slipped twice where spiders had built and then abandoned webs but he managed to recover himself in time. 

He grunted softly as he reached the top, surveying his domain. The top of the shelf was covered in thick untouched dust but he could still see his scattered belongings where he had lsat left them. The small pillow he made out of soft paperbacks was still as soft and squishy as the last time and the blanket carefully folded and kept under a thick encylopedia had retained its folds even after he shook it out. Tenpou laid the blanket out over the dust, sitting down carefully on the top of the shelf. 

He opened the box, taking out a small chipped sake bowl from the set. He smiled at it, recalling past memories as he poured himself a drink. The world was silent there, atop the highest bookcase in the library. No one ever bothered to look up, the books that populated the highest shelves were copies of old unasked for scripts or ramblings of unnoted personage. He took another sip of his sake and exhaled, leaning against the wall contentedly. It was the only sound that was made and he fancied he could even hear echoes of his sigh come back to him. 

_Hands, digging into his skin with their hurtful intention..._ No. Again, he closed his eyes and tried to make the memory go away. _Think of something else._ He took a deep breath, searching his mind for another subject to fixate on. _"No, Marshal, I want to hear you_ scream _."_ Tenpou opened his eyes, letting out an angry breath he didn't know he was holding. 

He took a sip of his sake, trying to taste it the best he can. 

~~~~

"What's so special about this agreement, then Marshal?" Li had asked him, even as his eyes gleamed. "I don't want your general's sloppy seconds." 

Tenpou shook his head, hating himself even as he spoke the next few words. "We have not slept together." 

"Ha! You expect me to believe that? You two are basically husband and wife." 

"No." His face was grim. "I... I have never. Well. To put it in terms of Down Below. I am what you would call a virgin." It was true. He had never truly wanted the experience thus far. No one had interested him, and he had written it off as something that happened to other people, like weddings or buying property instead of living in military apartments. 

Li's face took on a much more calculative expression. "You're in the army. With looks like that." Fingers lifted his chin so Li could study him more. "And you tell me you've never even done it with a woman, at least?" 

Tenpou moved away. "If you don't agree, then its fine, dear minister. This has been a waste of time." An unusually strong hand grabbed him by the wrist. 

"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"  
~~~~ 

"Please... stop..." Tenpou begged his mind out loud. "I came here to relax. Not relive whatever that was." He took another sip.

~~~~

He came back from that first encounter seemingly well enough. _So that's what it feels like... I **hate** it._ He couldn't really face Kenren as much afterwards, choosing to keep himself busy elsewhere. All he thought about when he saw the general, boasting about his sexual prowess was _how could anyone like that?_. He couldn't imagine Kenren mounting some other woman or man or whatever like how Li did. Kenren... Kenren couldn't. It didn't fit in with his image at all. 

~~~~

Again, he let out another deep breath, trying to focus. The sake cup in his hand seemed blurry for some reason. He took another sip, hoping that this time the roulette of his mind would land on a happier thought. 

~~~~

"Ten-chan, is something wrong?" That was the first inkling the general got that something was indeed very wrong. "You're never at your office anymore." They were sitting on opposite ends of the sofa, Tenpou keeping to himself as he flicked through a book. 

"I'm here now, aren't I?" He had replied with a half smile, trying to keep things pleasant. _How could anyone enjoy that?_ His mind whispered again. 

Kenren nodded then reached out to sprawl across the sofa for a hug. "Ten-cha-" 

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" He didn't even remember screaming the phrase. Tenpou saw again, in his minds' eye how he had jerked away the moment Kenren brushed against him. "No... Kenren, I mean, I'm. I'm sore from training. I'll.. I'll go to bed now. Goodnight."

~~~~

 _What an obvious lie._ He laughed to himself as he took another sip. _Something happy, please. Even if its from a book. Please._

But try as hard as he could, nothing worked and soon the sake jug ran dry. He laid back on his book-pillow, taking no small refuge in the fact that Li could _never_ climb up here, even if he did somehow find him. The bookshelf was just wide enough for him to lie comfortably and he turned on his side, intending to let uninterrupted sleep heal him as much as it could.


End file.
